Senior US Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison, is welcomed to the speaker's stand after a rousing introduction by US Congressman Ted Poe.

Senior US Senator from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison, is welcomed to the speaker's stand after a rousing introduction by US Congressman Ted Poe.

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Photo: MIKE GEORGE

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State Representative John Otto (far left) and US Congressman Ted Poe enjoy a moment of laughter during Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald's introduction of Poe to the crowd welcoming US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (seated to the right of Poe). less

State Representative John Otto (far left) and US Congressman Ted Poe enjoy a moment of laughter during Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald's introduction of Poe to the crowd welcoming US Senator Kay Bailey ... more

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Photo: MIKE GEORGE

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Photo: MIKE GEORGE

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Senator makes Liberty County stop

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Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison completed a 600-mile trek along and around the Texas Gulf Coast, including south Liberty County as her second-to-last stop.

The senator, complete with entourage, pulled up in front of the Price Daniel Mansion, located on the grounds of the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center on Aug. 13 to a mansion full of local politicians, business people, area citizens and representatives of the media.

Hutchison stepped off the RV that had been home for eight days as she had made her way from Harlingen at the southern tip of Texas up the coast line to Port Arthur, from where she had just come. Her next and final stop would be at the San Jacinto Monument later that day, which would complete the 600-mile, eight-day tour.

“I must tell you, back in 1956, Liberty had a bi-centennial and this is more hoopla than that when John Wayne came to town,” said Mayor Carl Pickett when welcoming Sen. Hutchison to Liberty. “So you rank right up there with John Wayne.”

Pickett then introduced Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald, as he put it, “the Democrat in the group” of Republicans who were present, who would introduce US Congressman Ted Poe.

“This is a first for me,” said Fitzgerald. “I haven’t had the privilege or honor to introduce a congressman before, Mr. Poe. But I have had the honor of introducing our State Representative John Otto a couple of times. The first time I was called upon to do that, I told my staff to print something out so I’ll know a little background - five pages later . . . I’ll tell you, I was out of breath and could barely pronounce his name.”

With that, the judge related a personal experience to introduce the congressman and at the same time offer a bit of praise to the other two officeholders, Hutchison and Otto, who were in the front of the room.

“Probably one of the best moments I have had with a congressman, or senator, or state representative, or state senator was when I was in Daisetta, Texas, staring down at a void in the ground, and my cell phone keeps going off,” said Fitzgerald. “This is Kay Bailey Hutchison’s office. What can we do for you? This is Ted Poe’s office. What can we do for you? This is John Otto’s office. What can we do for you? This is Senator (Tommy) Williams’ office. What can we do for you? And you don’t know how much I appreciated that and all their efforts since that time and the correspondence they’ve given the county and all you’ve offered to do and help. You’ve been there for us, and that’s my introduction of Ted Poe.”

Poe, always comfortable behind the microphone, then began his introduction of Hutchison.

“I appreciate the chance to be here,” began Poe. “It’s an honor to represent Liberty County, and it’s also an honor for us to have our senior senator here in Liberty County, Texas. I’m going to give a little bit different type of introduction. You can read her bio, and most of you know about her background, but she’s as Texan as they come. Her family history goes back in the state of Texas where Texans were called Texians - that’s how far her lineage and roots are in the state of Texas, back when it was a Republic. You go to her office in Washington, and it looks like a museum of Texas history, because she loves the State of Texas. And she represents the whole state in a phenomenal manner.”

The congressmen continued by saying that Texas is represented by 32 members of Congress and two senators. Hutchison is the senior senator, so every month she and her staff get all 34 members of the Texas representation together to talk about, in a bi-partisan way, issues concerning Texas.

“Most issues about Texas are not partisan,” said Poe. “They are about people and she spearheads the Texas delegation. When she calls, we listen, because she’s the lady and she not only has the issues right, she is one of the senators in the senate who gets things done. She can make things happen. When you start talking about Texas issues, you can pick any one of them, and all of a sudden, somewhere in that movement or legislation, Sen. Kay Bailey is involved, probably leading that charge.”

The congressman did not mince words when speaking to what the current issues were.

“Right now, it’s the issue of the United States taking care of the United States in the area of energy and making sure we take care of ourselves and that we don’t have to depend on other people. She’s leading that effort in the Senate and she represents us in a phenomenal manner, and we are honored here in Liberty, Texas, appropriate name for this County of Liberty, because these folks and all of us believe in that in this state of Texas, that wonderful word of ‘liberty.’ And today, while we’re here, halfway around the world, in the name of ‘liberty,’ the greatest military that has ever been assembled in history of the world is carrying that banner in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Let me tell you, this lady from Texas has the issues of our armed forces and our veterans close to her heart, and she is doing as much as anybody in our country to make sure that our troops are well equipped, and that when they become veterans, especially disabled veterans, that we do not forget them. We owe all that leadership, in my opinion, in the United States Senate or our senior senator from the state of Texas.”

Hutchison took the speaker’s stand and immediately fired back with compliments for her congressional counterpart.

“I will tell you this,” began the senior senator, “you do not have a more hardworking person in the entire United States Congress than your United States Congressman Ted Poe. We have worked together on so many issues. Any time one of our counties in his district is in trouble, especially after Hurricane Rita, we came in together and Ted Poe was relentless in making sure that the people of East Texas got the help that they needed in a time of need. I just love working with him and I thank you for sending him to congress. Thank you very much.”

The senator mentioned her affinity for both the Price Daniel Family and the Sam Houston Family and spoke of her personal ties with Price Daniel Jr., as the two went to the legislature together, and the tremendous feelings she had for Mrs. Price Daniel.

“I loved his mother who was the most wonderfully gracious First Lady that I could imagine. She was the quintessential Texan, and Price Daniel Sr. gave so much service to our state and that he has this tribute (the mansion) to him and to Sam Houston, who was Jean Daniel’s family, is just perfect.”

Hutchison then relayed some personal family history by stating that her great-great-grandfather signed the Texas Declaration of Independence along with Sam Houston and others, and even stated that her son, Houston, was named after Sam Houston.

The senator spoke much about the country’s energy needs and made her feelings known about Texas’ involvement.

“Let me just mention that Ted and I are working very hard on this energy issue,” explained Hutchison. “There is one issue that affects every Texan and every American and that is the cost of energy. You fill up your pickup truck, your SUV or automobile and you’re in sticker shock. A lot of people are having to make a choice whether they drive or whether they are able to do other things with their money. What we are trying to work very hard on is to press the Majority Leader in the senate and the Speaker of the House to let us vote. I believe the speaker will not allow a vote in the House of Representatives because she thinks that she will lose, because common sense tells you if we have high prices, it’s because we don’t have enough supply. And the way to get supply is to increase what we have and there are so many ways that we could increase the supply of oil and natural gas by drilling for our own natural resources.”

The senator made a hit when she compared Texas to the rest of the country.

“We are the model for America,” stated Hutchison. “We are showing how you can produce energy in the right way, and if every state would do what Texas is doing, we wouldn’t have an energy shortage and high prices like we do here in America.”

The senator told of visiting an expanding nuclear facility in Bay City and a refinery expansion in Port Arthur, explaining the significance that this country had not seen any new refineries nor any new building or expansion of nuclear energy plants in quite some time. Most of that, she blamed on the federal government and the enormous amounts of red tape they had in place that kept expansion and building down, but she also explained how many of those restrictions are being lifted to encourage energy expansion. She also gave kudos to the French for their use of nuclear power that provides 80 percent of the electrical power in France very economically.

A short question-and-answer period followed, after which the senator said her good-byes and headed south for the San Jacinto Monument.